Relatives of IRA men shot dead by British troops and the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland were today awarded compensation by European judges who ruled that proper investigations and procedures had not been observed in examining the circumstances of the killings.
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg found the Government had violated Article Two of its convention - guaranteeing the right to life - in four separate cases, including one which prompted allegations of a shoot-to-kill policy in the province.
The families of each of the 12 victims were awarded £10,000 in compensation.
The Northern Secretary Mr John Reid welcomed the Court finding that the deaths were not unlawful killings.
"The criticisms are of procedures, the investigations, not the deaths themselves. We will want to study those criticisms seriously. But in that regard it is worth noting that the Home Secretary recently announced a review of inquest procedures," he said.
Spanning more than a decade, the cases involves the deaths of 10 IRA men, one Sinn Fein member and a civilian at the hands of the SAS, the RUC and the Ulster Defence Regiment - allegedly acting in collusion with police.
The cases were brought by relatives of Patrick Kelly and seven other IRA men who died along with a civilian in a gunfight with the SAS at Loughall, County Armagh in 1987; by the father of Pearse Jordan, shot dead by the RUC; by the son of Gervase McKerr, who died with two other Provisionals at the hand of a special police unit; and by the mother of Sinn Fein member Patrick Shanaghan, shot by loyalists acting in collusion with the RUC, according to a public inquiry.
Paul Mageean, legal officer for the Committee for the Administration of Justice, who acted as lawyers to the Loughall and Shanaghan families, hailed the verdict as a tremendous achievement.
He said: "It's a reminder to the Government that even in the midst of conflict they can't step outside the rule of law.
"It also shows police investigations are totally inadequate and the review by the DPP is inadequate."
Other relatives of IRA men shot dead demanded that the police and troops involved in the shootings should be charged with murder.
Mr Mark Thompson, of the Relatives for Justice, said: "Relatives have gone down a road they did not want to go. It is an indictment of the British Government and it's shoot-to-kill policy and an indictment of the legal system in place in the six counties.
"It is a policy specially constructed to protect the guilty and those people who carried out the shoot to kill policy. The people responsible should be held accountable. They should be charged with murder."
A jubilant Ms Mairead Kelly, whose brother Patrick was among the eight IRA men shot dead at Loughgall, said the ruling would clear the way for hundreds of other families of victims killed by police and British soldiers to take action against the Government.
She said: "It is time the British got off the high moral ground and stopped lecturing people about human rights. The British have now been found guilty in front of the world and seen to be one of the biggest violaters of all.
However, the DUP's East Belfast MP Mr Peter Robinson said the Government should refuse to pay any compensation.
He said: "This ruling is insane and offensive and the Government should ignore it. There should be no compensation payments.
"There can be no greater absurdity than the human rights of killers, in the act of carrying out murder, being protected while they attempt to violate the human rights of others."
PA